Kurdistan in Talks on Its Lawmakers Return to Iraqi Parliament

Kurdistan in Talks on Its Lawmakers Return to Iraqi Parliament

updated 00:26 04.06.2016

Iraqi Kurds are negotiating with Baghdad authorities on a possible return of Kurdish lawmakers to the country's parliament, the representative of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to the United States, Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman, told Sputnik.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Iraqi Kurds are engaged in talks within their government as well as with the Iraqi administration on the return of Kurdish lawmakers to Iraq’s parliament in Baghdad, Rahman said.

"Frankly, we really have to see what is the role of our members of parliament — the Kurdish members of parliament in Baghdad," Rahman said. "The violence that was shown toward some of them really was very worrying for all of us."

Rahman pointed out that the lawmakers are the Kurds’ elected representatives and must be respected and treated with the respect.

"So this is really a wider political discussion right now on the political agreements that we need to see coming up," she noted.

Rahman noted the Kurds have been discussing the issue of their lawmakers’ return to parliament with both, the authorities in Baghdad and officials within the Kurdistan Regional Government.

The representative also said the Iraqi parliament has not convened yet and Iraqi Kurdistan was "waiting to see what happens."

On April 30, Shia protesters stormed Iraq’s parliament and began a fight with Kurd and Sunni lawmakers. Kurdish Peshmerga fighters rescued the lawmakers, but their work there has been suspended since.

The Iraqi Kurdistan autonomous region in the country's north is a part of the historic Kurdish region parts of which lie in Syria, Iran and Turkey. The region has its own government, parliament and armed forces.
...